Tobacco Industry Deceit Claimed
Cigarette makers tried to undermine evidence that secondhand smoke causes cardiovascular disease, according to a review by a UC Davis physician of scores of once-secret tobacco industry documents.
The report published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation discredits research paid for by the tobacco industry as attempts to put corporate viability above public health and to downplay scientific findings on the role of secondhand smoke in heart disease.
The report – by Eliza Tong of UC Davis and Stanton Glantz, a longtime tobacco researcher at UC San Francisco – also discusses how the industry used questionable research to promote what are allegedly less harmful cigarettes.
"This special report exposes the deceitful practices of the tobacco industry in its attempts to fight smoke-free regulations and serves as an eye-opener for the public health community and the federal government as the 'reduced harm product' debate picks up steam," M. Cass Wheeler, CEO of the American Heart Association, said in a prepared statement.
David Sutton, a spokesman for Phillip Morris USA, said he couldn't comment specifically about the report, but he acknowledged that public health officials have linked secondhand smoke with disease.
"We believe the public should be guided by the conclusion of public health officials regarding the effect of secondhand smoke in deciding whether to be in places where it is present," Sutton said, "or, if they are smokers, when and where they should smoke around others."
Sutton stressed that Phillip Morris continues to research ways to reduce the health risks from smoking, creating a $350 million center for research and technology in Richmond, Va.
The scientific consensus is that frequent exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of cardiovascular disease by 30 percent.
Health concerns have driven efforts nationwide to ban smoking in many public places, including restaurants, bars and other workplaces.
California has some of the most stringent anti-smoking laws in the country and boasts some of the nation's lowest rates of smoking and smoking-related diseases. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week signed legislation to ban smoking in vehicles carrying children.
The review in Circulation represents the first time researchers have have looked at how tobacco companies funded and used scientific studies that tied environmental tobacco smoke to heart and artery disease.
The review of nearly 5,000 internal tobacco industry documents – made public during legal proceedings in recent years – found 47 that specifically took up the subject of heart disease.
Glantz said that while most people associate secondhand smoke with cancer risk, heart disease is far more prevalent among those exposed to tobacco smoke.
"The effects on blood and the heart and vascular system occur very, very quickly" he said, "and you get big drops in heart attacks immediately when you put smoke-free policies in place."
Glantz and Tong said the tobacco industry suppressed research with negative findings about environmental exposure to tobacco smoke.
A 1995 industry-funded study, for example, in which people were subjected to seven hours of secondhand smoke found significant adverse effects.
Study participants experienced decreased lung function, and increased levels of bad cholesterol and lower levels of good cholesterol. Blood tests also revealed inflammatory markers, which are used to identify people at high risk for cardiovascular problems.
Those findings, however, were not published completely, and industry scientists attributed all of the significant adverse effects to stress related to the tobacco smoke odor and not to the toxicity of the tobacco smoke itself.
In another case, when an industry-paid researcher found that secondhand smoke contributes to clogged arteries, an industry executive later criticized the work in a major medical journal and the industry discontinued funding for it.
The researchers found other examples in which tobacco-funded studies labeled certain study subjects as nonsmokers when they actually were "passive smokers" because they were being exposed to secondhand smoke.
Glantz and Tong said the misclassification skewed the study results against finding a link between exposure to secondhand smoke and heart disease risk.
The researchers suggest the tobacco industry has an established pattern of countering legitimate scientific data on the dangers of tobacco smoke exposure and promoting less damning results when it suits their corporate interests.
"I think they are still trying to frame the issue to minimize the risks," said Tong. "Secondhand smoke does cause cardiovascular disease, and any research by tobacco industry should be treated with skepticism."
The report published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation discredits research paid for by the tobacco industry as attempts to put corporate viability above public health and to downplay scientific findings on the role of secondhand smoke in heart disease.
The report – by Eliza Tong of UC Davis and Stanton Glantz, a longtime tobacco researcher at UC San Francisco – also discusses how the industry used questionable research to promote what are allegedly less harmful cigarettes.
"This special report exposes the deceitful practices of the tobacco industry in its attempts to fight smoke-free regulations and serves as an eye-opener for the public health community and the federal government as the 'reduced harm product' debate picks up steam," M. Cass Wheeler, CEO of the American Heart Association, said in a prepared statement.
David Sutton, a spokesman for Phillip Morris USA, said he couldn't comment specifically about the report, but he acknowledged that public health officials have linked secondhand smoke with disease.
"We believe the public should be guided by the conclusion of public health officials regarding the effect of secondhand smoke in deciding whether to be in places where it is present," Sutton said, "or, if they are smokers, when and where they should smoke around others."
Sutton stressed that Phillip Morris continues to research ways to reduce the health risks from smoking, creating a $350 million center for research and technology in Richmond, Va.
The scientific consensus is that frequent exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of cardiovascular disease by 30 percent.
Health concerns have driven efforts nationwide to ban smoking in many public places, including restaurants, bars and other workplaces.
California has some of the most stringent anti-smoking laws in the country and boasts some of the nation's lowest rates of smoking and smoking-related diseases. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week signed legislation to ban smoking in vehicles carrying children.
The review in Circulation represents the first time researchers have have looked at how tobacco companies funded and used scientific studies that tied environmental tobacco smoke to heart and artery disease.
The review of nearly 5,000 internal tobacco industry documents – made public during legal proceedings in recent years – found 47 that specifically took up the subject of heart disease.
Glantz said that while most people associate secondhand smoke with cancer risk, heart disease is far more prevalent among those exposed to tobacco smoke.
"The effects on blood and the heart and vascular system occur very, very quickly" he said, "and you get big drops in heart attacks immediately when you put smoke-free policies in place."
Glantz and Tong said the tobacco industry suppressed research with negative findings about environmental exposure to tobacco smoke.
A 1995 industry-funded study, for example, in which people were subjected to seven hours of secondhand smoke found significant adverse effects.
Study participants experienced decreased lung function, and increased levels of bad cholesterol and lower levels of good cholesterol. Blood tests also revealed inflammatory markers, which are used to identify people at high risk for cardiovascular problems.
Those findings, however, were not published completely, and industry scientists attributed all of the significant adverse effects to stress related to the tobacco smoke odor and not to the toxicity of the tobacco smoke itself.
In another case, when an industry-paid researcher found that secondhand smoke contributes to clogged arteries, an industry executive later criticized the work in a major medical journal and the industry discontinued funding for it.
The researchers found other examples in which tobacco-funded studies labeled certain study subjects as nonsmokers when they actually were "passive smokers" because they were being exposed to secondhand smoke.
Glantz and Tong said the misclassification skewed the study results against finding a link between exposure to secondhand smoke and heart disease risk.
The researchers suggest the tobacco industry has an established pattern of countering legitimate scientific data on the dangers of tobacco smoke exposure and promoting less damning results when it suits their corporate interests.
"I think they are still trying to frame the issue to minimize the risks," said Tong. "Secondhand smoke does cause cardiovascular disease, and any research by tobacco industry should be treated with skepticism."
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